A Historical Look at "Job Security"

I see a lot of clients who say that they would like to come back to school, but they don't know what they want to study. A common item they put in their wish lists in a field of work is "something with job security". I'd like to address this notion of "job security" as something that never really existed and, given the current climate of globalization and economic turmoil, is not likely to become firm again.

I am neither an anthropologist nor a historian, but I think this notion of "job security" developed post World War II and in the 1950s, when North America began to take advantage of a major manufacturing (and all the associated services) boom. It happened through the 1970s that, if you got a job with a company, in return for a lifetime of service to the company, the company would keep you on. There was a sense of commitment between employer and employee.

The massive recession in the 1980s changed that. To maintain profit levels while income dropped and inflation reduced the value of the dollar, company executives slashed operating budgets in the easiest places possible, including cutting salaries by laying off, forcing retirement, and firing large numbers of employees. Other employees took reduced hours or reduced wages to stay on. Sometime during that chaos, it seems to me as I look back at it, a social contract was broken: suddenly, employers did not owe it to their employees anymore to try to keep them on.

So aren't there field that are less likely to be downsized, you may ask? Isn't that security? Yes, of course there are. The world will always need plumbers.

I'm being facetious, because I don't believe someone should choose a career field just because it's "safe." The world would not have any art, music or literature if we all chose a career path that was "safe" or "secure."

I would like to argue instead, we should choose a career about which we are passionate and enthusiastic. Stay current and trained up in that field. And then your skill set is your job security. If you are excited and good at what you do, you will always be able to find employment.